It Won't Hurt Any Less
by tistrust
Summary: No matter what anyone else tells you, there is always a favorite.
1. Ferb via Phineas

It Won't Hurt Any Less

AN: Short two shot.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Ferb has a fever and Phineas doesn't know how to fix it. Ferb had thrown up six times today and it didn't look like he would wake up any time soon. Mom told him to keep an eye on Ferb, since Phineas didn't feel like leaving their room anyways, so Phineas did exactly as he was told. He memorized Ferb's breathing pattern. He consistently checked Ferb's heart rate and temperature. He saw how much red was in Ferb's cheeks and how much blood had left the rest of Ferb's face. He knew the angle of Ferb's cheek bones. He noticed the way the dim lighting shined off Ferb's hair; how the light made different sections more or less green.

It didn't seem fair that Ferb is this sick. They both came down with this flu at the same time, but it hit Ferb much harder. Although, Phineas had not yet fully recovered, he had gotten better. Ferb, on the other hand, seems to be getting worse.

Ferb shivers. Phineas takes his blankets and throws them over Ferb.

Phineas sweeps some of Ferb's sweat matted hair off his forehead. "You'll be fine soon."

Ferb turns over and cracks open his eyes. Ferb gives him a weak smile and snuggles deeper into his bed.

"You have to get better." Phineas says. Because this was somehow his fault, he just knew it. Maybe if they hadn't spent all night watching the stars, Ferb would have been strong enough to fight off the virus when it hit. Maybe if Phineas hadn't insisted on building the mechanical zoo, then Ferb would have had been able to rest and get better instead of steadily getting worse. Maybe if Phineas paid a little more attention to his brother, and not the girl from across the street he would have noticed Ferb moving slower than normal.

Ferb pats Phineas's shoulder.

"You're right." Phineas sighs, "It's not my fault. But you still have to get better."


	2. Phineas and Ferb via Candace

/-/-/-/

When Candace looks out her window, she's not surprised to see gray metal taller than the house. She wishes she could say that she was surprised, but sadly that is not the case.

Candace swings her window open, "Phineas and Ferb! I'm so telling mom!"

She's not even sure what she's going to tell her mom. Candace had no idea what this machine did, if it did anything at all. What if it was just another one of those things that sat around and answered questions, what was the harm in a machine that could answer all your questions?

But that isn't the heart of the matter.

No, in fact that seems more like a sidetrack than the actual problem. The thing is Candace is afraid that one day her brothers will build something, so monstrous that it would eat them alive. She's scared that one day, their invention will blow up or disappear or fly into space with them still in it. She wants them to be safe, she's overprotective and slightly neurotic, but unlike her brothers, she understands consequences.

"Kevin," the zebra pops up with a cup of steaming coffee, "when you're done failing at busting your brothers would you mind spending a moment with an old friend? I feel like we haven't seen each other in ages."

"Fine," Candace sighs, she must be crazy.

Most of all, she's afraid that one day, she may only be able to save one. On that day, she fears that her life will come to an end. Because given an ultimatum, given the worst-case-scenario, where she would have to pick one of her brothers, she would choose Phineas. And she fears the consequences of her actions.


	3. Candace via Linda

AN: Thank you for reviewing. I'm not sure what my idea was, just that I was going for a one shot that turned out longer than expected which then turned into this.

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"Mom! Mom! Mom!" Candace runs into the living room.

Before Linda can even put down her book, Candace pulls her off the couch and towards the sliding glass doors.

"You have to see this." Candace starts her psychotic rant as always. "The boys started an adoption center for intercity pigeons and there are worms everywhere!"

Linda knows parents aren't supposed to play favorites. But it's a fact of life, there's always that one kid that you'll prefer over the others. Don't get her wrong, she'd give up anything in the world for any one of her kids, but Candace just sparks a part of her that the boys don't.

"Candace!" Linda digs in her heels and spins her daughter to face her, "Don't you think you're being slightly irrational?"

"No," Candace says, "no, I'm not."

Maybe Linda feels guilty that Candace had been through so much more than Phineas and Ferb. Maybe Linda just loved the time they spent together when Candace was younger, those early mornings when Candace watched Linda put on make-up and asked if she could wear lipstick too. When Candace would try on Linda's heels and pick up one of Linda's older purses, it just didn't seem like Candace would ever grow up. So Linda needs to protect that image even though that phase has long gone.

Candace walks outside and Linda is about to follow when she notices that her purse had fallen over and its contents scattered all over the floor. Linda picks up everything as Candace continues to yell.

"Okay, Candace." Linda sighs and walks outside, "What am I looking at?"

When Linda looks at Candace, Linda sees herself. She sees everything she once was and everything she ever wanted to be. But most of all she sees her little girl.


	4. Lawrence

/-/-/-/-/

"Hello, boys." Lawrence says as he looks into the kitchen.

"Hi Dad." Phineas smiles as he fastens the glass dome on top of a black dish.

"Oh my word," Lawrence turns and yells down the hall, "Linda, did you know that the boys are cooking up a storm?"

"As long as they clean up after they're done!"

"Well, all right then. You heard your mother."

Lawrence can't image his life any other way. He has a beautiful wife and three amazing kids. A SUV and a two story house with a large front and back garden. He had the American Dream. And he wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

He knows he doesn't spend as much time as he should at home, but his family knows he cares about them. His weekdays varied in his hours depending on what antique conventions were nearby or if he had to travel a ways to get to a rare convention. Sometimes he was giving a lecture but usually he just stayed at the shop until supper. But he kept his weekends free and he took as much vacation time as he wanted. The time he spends at home, he spends around the house either with his kids or with Linda.

Lawrence watches his boys start up their latest invention.

"Pretty neat, huh Dad?" Phineas says, "The charged plates slowly release electrons into the condensed water molecules until there are enough electrons to rub together and produce lightning."

As Phineas speaks, the white cloud turns into a smoky gray and sparks of electricity flashes throughout the dome.

He tries not to let moments go to waste. Because he already knew that he missed a lot of important ones. Like Ferb's first steps and Ferb's first words. He hadn't been there for Candace and Phineas's first steps and words either, but at least with them he had an excuse. So now he tries to make up for those lost moments, but he has to balance all of that with making a living, because what kind of father would he be if he couldn't provide food for his kids?


	5. Phineas via Ferb

/-/-/-/-/-/

"Phineas?" Isabella bats her eyes and shifts her weight to one foot, "Will you go to the movies with me tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Phineas taps his cheek with his finger. "Ferb and I were going to –"

Ferb waves his hand, dismissing their plans. He doesn't mind going alone. If Phineas wants to spend some time alone with Isabella, Ferb would not get in the way.

"They're replaying Space Adventure 1." Isabella says.

"Wow." Baljeet walks into the backyard, "I would greatly enjoy watching Space Adventure 1. I have only seen it at home and to watch such a great movie at a cinema would be an experience I would not likely forget."

"Why don't you guys go together?" Phineas asks.

Isabella shifts her weight and Baljeet laughs nervously.

Ferb watches his brother and waves again. It's fine, really. He had always been second choice. To his father, for a career. To his mother, for her daughter. To his sister, for his brother. And he's fine with it. Although, sometimes, he wishes he could be that little bit better.

If Ferb got just a little smarter or a little quicker, maybe one day someone would choose him first. Not that anyone had ever told him he wasn't good enough. Quite the contrary, most people complimented him on his abilities. But there was always an air to their compliments that placed the person further away from him than before he performed some incredible feat. It was in the way their eyes would glance over him, as if they were waiting for him to expose himself as a spaceman or some genetically engineered brainchild brought to life.

"I'm really sorry, guys." Phineas ignores Ferb's wave. "But Ferb and I made plans to go Dr. Sheldon Cooper's lecture on black hole thermodynamics."

"Oh." Isabella looks at the ground and kicks at a rock. "Okay, maybe some other time?"

Phineas frowns. "You can come with us, if you'd like."

"I would like to attend the lecture and we can go watch the movie on Tuesday." Baljeet says. "I can invite Buford, as well, so he will not punch me for not asking him to come with us."

Ferb nods. That would be perfect, and he wouldn't have to feel bad about Isabella's plans falling through.

"Yeah," Phineas smiles, "that would be great."

"Yeah," Isabella says with a small laugh, "great."

But Ferb will live with being second. Because he knows he'll never be second choice to Phineas. And because Ferb will never be second to Phineas, Ferb will make sure that he, Baljeet, and Buford will sit at least a few seats away.


	6. Phineas and Ferb via Perry

Phineas and Ferb via Perry

AN: For Spark21, who requested something more. And if I may add, I'm still not exactly happy with this work, but I'm unsure what to do with it as I have already written it.

/-/-/-/-/

Perry waddles towards Phineas and Ferb, knowing exactly how the next few minutes would play out.

"Oh, there you are Perry." Phineas will say.

"Come on kids," Linda will say, "Lets go have some snacks."

Perry will chatter and Ferb will pick him up.

Perry never expected to love his owners. In secret agent school, the teachers had warned them about host families. They were told to not get attached, because attachment lead to love, and love could lead to all sorts of problems. Then there was that other cloud hanging about their heads: People loved animals, but not in the same way that people love other people. They told Perry this from the start. The host family may cuddle you. They may feed you and take you out to the park and buy you all sorts of pretty things. But that doesn't mean a thing. Because in a moment's notice, they can drop you and forget about you.

It took Perry years to trust his owners. But it didn't take more than a few weeks to love them. It was hard not to, Phineas and Ferb were the best owners Perry could wish for. They fed him, they took him to the park, and they bought him a few pretty things.

Then came the ultimate test. One day Perry had hoped would never come to pass. The day they learned about his secret. Perry was sure he would never again be able to see the spark in Phineas's eyes when the boys finished a project. Or Ferb's shy smile when someone shows him a bit more attention than he was used to. By a stroke of luck, Doofenshmirtz's machine allowed him to return to his family.

And things could never be the same as it had been before. Because now he knew. The boys would go to any lengths to save him. Neither of them would ever just toss him aside without a second thought. He was more than just the boys' pet, but part of their family. Perry doesn't think he could love either of them more. But there was that tiny piece of Perry, a little part that will forever like Ferb just a faction more.

Maybe Ferb just didn't care about secrets. Maybe Ferb knew Perry wouldn't keep something like this from them unless there was good reasoning. Maybe Ferb had already figured it out, the boy certainly is the more observant of the two. Whatever the motive, Ferb hadn't gotten angry with him like Phineas had. And for that brief moment of understanding when everything else was chaotic and threatening to kill them, Perry will be forever grateful to Ferb just a tiny bit more.


	7. The Former Mrs Fletcher

The Former Mrs. Fletcher

/-/-/-/

Now and then, she stops in Danville. She drives by their house in different, unmarked cars. She parks down the block and watches their house. Usually she'll catch sight of two young boys and the OWCA agent. She'd see the tip of her son's hair as they moved about, his glossy image in a shiny window, or sometimes they'd come out the side gate.

Today must be her lucky day. The boys are in the front yard, setting up a lemonade stand. She sits in her rental car and watches them work, watches them expand, watches them as the sun sits low, and she keeps watching long past the moment they go inside. She watches their windows and hopes to catch sight of her son for one more second.

She was recruited into the Secret Intelligence Service straight out of college, during her university years she did projects for MI6 while they paid for her tuition, flat, and all the other meaningless material items she had wanted.

Her last year in uni, her first mission. She went to the library, she searches through books and books to find out the historical significance of some honored relic of the Middle East. She doesn't remember exactly why she wanted to prove herself so badly, but she had wanted to be ready for any and all circumstances. Instead she stumbled into Lawrence Fletcher.

She told him, she'd leave. He told her, he didn't care. One thing lead to another.

Then she left for her mission. She came back three months later, her belly barely starting to extend, and she knew she would have to choose. She took leave with the service and found Lawrence working as a cashier in a little antiques shop.

He was thrilled and she was too, in a way.

It was the hardest decision she ever had to make. She could have quit the service and lead a normal life. But everyone knew, no one ever _quit_ the service. She would never be able disappear completely. She would always be looking over her shoulder, always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

She hadn't planned for this, she didn't think she'd have a baby this early in her career. When she was little, she had thought of a family in a distant way, where she knew she'd be a mum and there would be a dad and kids, but she got no further than knowing their relative positions. When MI6 recruited her, all thoughts of a future family had gone out the window. Not that she didn't want one, more that she didn't fit the mold anymore. And she still doesn't.

Above all else, she couldn't put them in danger, she wouldn't risk it. So she chose to keep them safe. And in the process, she broke their hearts.

/-/-/-/


	8. Ferb via Irving

Ferb via Irving

AN: I suppose it's time to start on their friends. R&R.

/-/-/-/

Every night, Irving watches Phineas and Ferb sleep, and then he traces their outlines with his finger and whispers goodnight.

Irving has been there since the beginning of their adventures. He's set up video recording devices across their home and yards to ensure he won't miss a single second. He's bought the latest binoculars, set up the most advanced microphones, and made multiple detailed, 3D images of their home.

Every moment he can, he watches Phineas and Ferb. But he will eventually get pulled away from his computer to finish his chores or other necessary events such as food breaks and nature calls. At night, he watches everything again, while Phineas and Ferb slumber on his second monitor.

As Irving watches the yesterday's adventure unfold the second time, his eyes are always drawn to Ferb. Maybe because in the dead of night, when the volume is mute and with only the soft glow of his computer monitors to light his bedroom, Ferb seems pretty much the same as he does in real life.

He watches as Ferb picks up a screwdriver and tucks it into the back of his purple pants. Ferb scales up the side of the machine, easily and smoothly like he's more comfortable defying gravity than having a conversation with friends.

Ferb is quiet and focused. A silent god among mere men. Ferb is brilliance and acceptance and wisdom. And like Irving, Ferb is forgotten.

Ferb is always in the foreground, yet at the same time, Ferb always blends in. Ferb is a contradiction on too many levels for Irving to fully understand.

Phineas, on the other hand, is an open book. Phineas is expressive and inclusive. Phineas follows convention; he speaks his mind and is always fully in the moment. Phineas is genius and noble and sincere.

No one forgets Phineas, no one can. He's the center. Phineas is the top part, the head, and the voice. Attention may deviate from Phineas, but everything always goes back to the center.

Irving has taken detailed notes. He's drawn many Venn diagrams, created many graphs and Excel sheets detailing everything from their meals to the amount of times they use the restroom. And after all his careful scrutiny, he's come to know almost everything there is to know about Phineas Flynn.

But Irving is still scratching the surface of Ferb Fletcher.


	9. Phineas via Isabella

Phineas via Isabella

/-/-/-/

Isabella watches Phineas and Ferb as they finish their latest invention, some sort of automatic breakfast machine. Ferb is programming something about egg consistency into the computer while Phineas looks over his shoulder.

Isabella doesn't remember the first time she and the Flynn-Fletcher brothers met. It felt as if they had known each other their entire lives. She does, however, remember the first time she recognized her feelings for Phineas. At that point, all the lil' Sparks in her troop had sworn to stay away from boys. Because boys were gross and mean and icky and they stuck gum in your hair and threw things at you in class. At first Isabella agreed.

Then there was Phineas who was always with Ferb and neither of them were any of those things, as far as her five year old self could tell.

Ferb was strange back then, a too quiet little boy, who put Phineas between himself and the rest of the world, but nice enough.

Phineas was…Phineas was amazing. He was wonderful and smart and funny. He helped other kids with their work, he didn't mind sharing his snacks, and he always had a smile. He even told her, he liked her dress.

Isabella remembers the moment she realized her feelings, down to the very last precise, detail.

As she got older, the feelings never went away. They grew and flowed and became a much larger part of her. It's something she cannot change. Something she doesn't care to change.

It's not a crush. It can't be. Because crushes were silly things that come and go. Something that a girl has on a boy, when she has no chance of ever being in an actual relationship with him. But this was the furthest thing from a crush. This is real. And it's possible. And it's so close she can almost reach out and grab it.

Funny thing, the word crush. It implies such little care, yet it fits so rightly. Every time, Phineas misinterprets her words. Every time, her hand tries to slip into his. Every time, the sun dances in his blue eyes, when the moment is just right and she can see everything she's ever wanted, so close and yet so far. She feels absolutely _crushed_.

She was in love. She's been in love. And she doesn't think she'll ever be able to love anyone else like she loves Phineas Flynn.


End file.
